meandering, markets, Melbourne, too many cookbooks, food writers, food blogs, way too much chocolate and a handful of recipes

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Astoundingly Easy Lentil Tomato Soup

You know, there are those gorgeous recipes that I bookmark from the internet. I have files full of them but I never ever get around to making them. (Heidi Swanson's Triple Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Peppermint Filling from 2003, I'm looking in your direction!) They look divine, I suspect they'll taste incredible, but the time-consuming aspect means that they might get made in about, say, ten years. While the children weed the front garden and I loll about in a hammock. Yup.

And there are those simple recipes that you spy on someone's site and instantly think: that's what I'll make for dinner one night. Granted, it has been some time since I saw this recipe for Tomato and Red Lentil Soup on Vicious Ange's blog, but the other evening, I was gazing into the cupboard wanting to throw something quick together and this came straight to mind.

Because I am lazy, I skipped the red lentil stage and went for a tin of brown lentils, but I happen to think that it improved the texture, as the carrot was only cooked briefly.l It all came together so quicky in fact, that Figman looked somewhat astounded when I put the bowl in front of him and asked "Did you cook that?". He was puzzled because he hadn't seen me making it and yet here it was, in all it's heartiness.

Dice and fry one large onion and four or five carrots in a large pot. Add curry powder to taste. (I used an organic one which has to be the most feeble curry powder I have ever come across in my life. Hence I cannot give a measurement). Drain one tin of brown lentils and stir. Add two tins of chopped tomatoes and a litre of chicken or vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes.

When serving, I also like to add chunks of cheddar. There is nothing like eating a wholesome vegetarian soup and thinking how good you are being and then coming across a nugget of molten cheesy goodness.

3 Comments:

This is my first time on your site, just did a search for "lettuce and lentil tomato soup" on Google and this page came up. I know it sounds weird to cook lettuce, but the lettuce I had was kind of too old to be fresh, so in it went. I substituted absolutely everything - potatoes (skins on) instead of carrots, I added two kinds of tinned beans, four tomatoes because I didn't have tinned, the lettuce and then I used dry lentils (added last to soak up everything). I added curry powder but that didn't do very much so I threw in a whole lot of garlic and a bit of salt. Then it got a lot better. To top it off I took your advice about the cheese, except that the cheese I had was pepper cheese (also a remnant from the fridge that needed using) and I have to tell you, this is the best lentil soup I ever made!!! I love your comment about the cheese too.

Because of the foodblogs, I was more inspired to try new and different foods, I am learning a lot and also thanks for sharing your ideas because at the same time I am also trying my best to learn how to prepare (decent meals :-) Busby SEO challenge